• set strategy • set culture • delegate • incentivize “Build a system and make yourself a human router.” Stress comes from failure to build the right system. -Andrew Wilkinson Continue reading CEOs Should Do Nothing Stop performing company duties. Real CEO jobs…
In general, you have to try to recognize that when the stakes of a project are very high, there’s not much to be gained from putting additional pressure on the people working on it. It’s subtle, but there’s a difference between communicating that you share their stress- that you’re in it with them OR communicating that you need them to deliver in order to alleviate your stress. The Ride of a Lifetime, p.184 Continue reading Be soft on people working on hard, challenging projects.
-You have to do it in person, not over the phone and certainly not by email or text. -You have to look the person in the eye. -You can’t use anyone else as an excuse. (This is you making a decision about them – not them as a person but the way they have performed in their job – and they need and deserve to know that it’s coming from you.) -You can’t make small talk once you bring someone in for that conversation Iger says something along the lines of: “I’ve asked you to come in here for a … Continue reading There’s no good playbook for how to fire someone, though Iger has an internal set of rules:
No matter how much data you’ve been given, it’s still, ultimately,a risk. and the decision to take that risk or not comes down to one person’s instinct. Don’t sacrifice being nimble and acting fast to collect more data and deliberate for eternities. This isn’t to say that research and deliberation aren’t important. You have to do the homework. You have to be prepared. But there’s never 100% certainty. Steve Jobs hates the CEOs who can’t make decisions themselves. The Ride of a lifetime, p.125 Continue reading There is never 100 percent certainty
Once you have 5 or 6 of them, they are no longer priorities. Not only do you undermine their significance by having too many, but nobody is going to remember them all. The Ride of a lifetime, p.100 Continue reading Set only 1 to 3 priorities
This isn’t about saying things are good when they’re not, and it’s not about conveying some innate faith that “things will work out.” It’s about believing you and the people around you can steer toward the best outcome, and not communicating the feeling that all is lost if things don’t break your way. The tone you set as a leader has enormous effect on the people around you. No one wants to follow a pessimist. The Ride of a Lifetime, p.87 Continue reading As a leader of a company, you cannot be pessimistic.
It’s about helping others be prepared to possibly step into your shoes – giving them access to your own decision making, identifying the skills they need to develop and helping them improve, and, as I’ve had to do, sometimes being honest with them about why they’re not ready for the next step up. -The Ride of a Lifetime, p.67 Continue reading Good leadership isn’t about being indispensable.
As a leader, you should want those around you to be eager to rise up and take on more responsibility, as long as dreaming about the job they want doesn’t distract them from the job they have. You can’t let ambition get too far ahead of opportunity. I’ve seen a lot of people who had their sights set on a particular job or project, bu the opportunity to get there was so slim. They grew impatient with where they were and so their ambition became counterproductive. The employee should make himself one of the people, through attitude, energy and focus, … Continue reading What’s the best way to nurture ambition?
In those instances in which you find yourself hoping that something will work without being able to convincingly explain to yourself how it will work – that’s when a little bell should go off. Then you should ask yourself clarifying questions. What’s the problem I need to solve? Does this solution actually makes sense (rationally)? If I’m feeling some doubt, why? Am I doing this for sound reasons or am I motivated by something personal? -The Ride of a Lifetime, p.65 Continue reading Not sure how this will work? Time to ask the hard questions.
Roadmap to Billions 